Process of making a velour needle felt

ABSTRACT

To make a velour needle felt, an optionally pre-needled staple fiber non-woven web is applied to a revolving brushlike support and is then needled to form a pile on the side which faces the support. To increase the resistance of the velour needle felt to distortion, it is proposed that a layer which has a higher resistance to distortion than the staple fiber non-woven web and consists particularly of a spun-bonded web is applied to the brushlike support before the staple fiber non-woven web is applied thereto and that the pile fibers are pulled in the needling operation through the layer which has the higher resistance to distortion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a process of making a velour needle feltwherein an optionally preneedled staple fiber non-woven web is appliedto a revolving brushlike support and is subsequently needled on thatside which faces the support in order to form a pile thereon.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Needle felts cannot be made unless a surface pattern with a pronouncedpile is formed if the needle felt is to be made from a staple fibernon-woven web which is applied to a revolving support for supporting theweb as it is needled. This is due to the fact that the fibers engaged bythe needles are needled into the brush of the support and impart avelourlike appearance to the felt which has thus been needled. Butparticularly if such velour needle felts have only a low base weightthey will have only a restricted resistance to distortion and this isundesirable for some applications for which a dimensionally stable feltis required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

For this reason it is an object of the invention to provide for making avelour needle felt of the kind described first hereinbefore a processwhich is so improved with simple means that the resistance of the velourneedle felt to distortion and abrasion can considerably be increased,particularly in the case of felts having a low base weight, whereas theformation of a pronounced pile is not adversely affected.

The object set forth is accomplished in accordance with the invention inthat a layer which has a higher resistance to distortion than the staplefiber non-woven web and consists particularly of a spunbounded web isapplied to the brush-like support before the staple fiber non-woven webis applied thereto and that the pile fibers are pulled in the needlingoperation through the layer which has the higher resistance todistortion.

The velour needle felt made by that process comprises a staple fibernon-woven web having pile fibers protruding on one side and ischaracterized in that the felt comprises a layer which has a higherresistance to distortion than the staple fiber non-woven web and isjoined thereto by said pile fibers extending through said layer.

Because the pile fibers of the staple fiber non-woven web are pulledduring the needling operation through a layer which has a higherresistance to distortion, the resistance of the velour needle felt todistortion is considerably increased. Because the pile fibers pulledthrough the layer having a higher resistance to distortion areadditionally held by said layer, the anchoring of the pole pile fibersin the velour needle felt is improved and this results in a higherresistance to abrasion. The needling of the pile fibers through thelayer will hardly adversely affect the formation of the pile if asuitable layer is selected. Spunbonded webs may desirably be used forthat purpose because owing to their continuous fibers they have a highresistance to distortion in spite of their low base weight. In specialapplications a spunbonded web might be replaced by a staple fibernon-woven web, e.g., one which has been thermally consolidated, or awoven fabric or a plastic film.

The layer having the higher resistance to distortion has mainly thefunction to ensure a sufficient dimensional stability of the velourneedle felts even in case of a relatively low base weight. It will beunderstood that the formation of a pile extending through the interposedlayer must not be adversely affected to an appreciable degree by theinterposed layer. For this reason the interposed layer may desirablyconsist of a spunbonded web, which has a base weight that is related ina ratio of 1:5 to 1:12 to the base weight of the staple fiber non-wovenweb which is employed. With such a ratio of the base weights theinterposed layer will not visually be apparent in the velour needlefelt.

Because the resistance of velour needle felts to distortion canconsiderably by improved by the provision of an interposed layer whichhas a higher resistance to distortion than the staple fiber non-wovenweb which is employed, it is desirably possible to make blankets or thelike from such velour needle felts in that the needling operation issucceeded by an operation in which two layers of velour needle felt aresuperimposed so that their piles face outwardly and are subsequentlyjoined by being needled in certain regions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken on a line extendingin the direction of travel of the non-woven web and shows an apparatusfor making a velour needle felt in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing the needlefelt lying on the brushlike support.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The process in accordance with the invention for making a velour needlefelt will be explained more in detail with reference to the drawing.

As is apparent from FIG. 1, the apparatus for making a velour needlefelt in accordance with the invention essentially consists of a needlingmachine 1, in which needle boards 2 are adapted to be driven toreciprocate up and down and cooperate with a revolving brushlike support3. That support comprises an endless traction element 5, which istrained around reversing pulleys 4 and is provided with holders 6 forreplaceably mounted brush bodies 7, as is apparent from FIG. 2. Saidbrush bodies 7 carry tufts of bristles 8 to provide a support for thematerial being needled so that the needles of the needle boards 2 piercethe material being needled and then enter the bristle tufts 8.

To make a velour needle felt, a spunbonded web 9 is applied to thebrushlike support. The web 9 is unwound from a supply roll 10. Thestable fiber non-woven web 12 is also unwound from a supply roll 11 andmay optionally be pre-needled and is applied to that spunbonded web andis needled together with the spunbonded web 9. During that needlingoperation, fibers are needled from the staple fiber non-woven web 12through the spunbonded web 9 into the brushlike support 3 and a veloureffect is thus produced. The needled non-woven web is then removed fromthe brushlike support 3 by a take-off mechanism 13.

It is diagrammatically indicated in FIG. 2 that the joint needling ofthe staple fiber non-woven fabric 12 and the spunbonded web 9 has theresult that fibers are pulled through the spunbonded web to form apronounced pile 14, by which the spunbonded web 9 is completely coveredso that the spunbonded web is not directly visible apparent in thevelour needle felt but owing to its higher resistance to distortionensures that the velour needle felt has a much higher resistance todistortion and resistance to abrasion. For instance, a staple fibernon-woven fabric having a base weight of 150 g/m² may be used to make avelour needle felt having a sufficient dimensional stability if aspunbonded web having a base weight of, e.g., 20 g/m² is used. Theadvantages afforded by the process in accordance with the invention willparticularly be obtained if the base weights are low, i.e., if staplefiber non-woven webs having a base weight of up to 200 g/m² areemployed.

It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to theembodiment shown by way of example. For instance, the spunbonded web 9might be replaced by a woven fabric, a plastic film or a staple fibernon-woven web which has, e.g., been thermally consolidated, if saidmaterials form a layer which has a correspondingly higher resistance todistortion than the staple fiber non-woven web and permit pile fibers tobe needled through such materials

I claim:
 1. In a process of making a velour needle felt, wherein a staple fiber non-woven web is applied to a revolving brushlike support and while lying on said support is needled to form a pile on the side facing said support,wherein the improvement comprises the steps of applying a layer having a higher resistance to distortion than said web to said support before said staple fiber non-woven web is applied, and needling said staple fiber non-woven web to pull pile fibers of said web through said layer.
 2. The improvement set forth in claim 1, wherein said staple fiber non-woven web is pre-needled before it is applied to said support.
 3. The improvement set forth in claim 1, wherein said layer having a higher resistance to distortion is a spunbonded web.
 4. The improvement set forth in claim 3, wherein the ratio of the base weight of the spunbonded web to the base weight of the staple fiber non-woven web is 1:5 to 1:12.
 5. The improvement set forth in claim 1, wherein the needling operation is succeeded by an operation in which two layers of velour needle felt are superimposed with outwardly facing piles and are subsequently joined by being needled in certain regions.
 6. In a velour needle felt comprising a staple fiber non-woven web having pile fibers protruding on one side,wherein the improvement comprises a layer which has a higher resistance to distortion than the staple fiber non-woven web and is joined thereto by said pile fibers extending through said layer.
 7. The improvement set forth in claim 6, wherein said layer consists of a spun-bonded web.
 8. The improvement set forth in claim 7, wherein the ratio of the base weight of the spunbonded web to the base weight of the staple fiber non-woven web is 1:5 to 1:12. 